Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Hawks vs Miami Heat
The Hawks have two home games left in the regular season and one of them is tonight vs the Miami Heat. Both teams come into tonight’s game in need of a win to improve their standing in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament or in Miami’s case, get out of it altogether.
The Hawks are coming into this game on a two-game losing streak and are hoping they can get rolling here as the regular season comes to an end and they can be playing their best basketball. Atlanta will still be without Trae Young for this game and will be leaning on Dejounte Murray to lift them to a home win vs Miami.
After winning Eastern Conference Player Of The Week, Murray cooled off a little last week, scoring 20 points only once in four games. He has been struggling shooting from the field and if Atlanta’s supporting cast does not deliver on nights when Murray is not as productive, the Hawks are usually in big trouble.
Bogdan Bogdanovic has been one of the Hawks’s best players this season and he is coming off of a night where he shot 75% from three. Bogdanovic is a huge part of the Hawks’ offense due to his three-point shooting ability and when he gets going, he can put up a huge scoring total. He had 38 in a loss vs Milwaukee a week ago.
De’Andre Hunter is going to have a lot of responsibility tonight on both ends of the floor. Hunter might be the Hawks’s best perimeter defender and will spend time guarding Jimmy Butler tonight. He can be inconsistent on the offensive end, but Hunter can be one of the Hawks’s most impactful players on any given night.
Jalen Johnson is the other player who could see some time guarding Butler tonight. Johnson has been one of the NBA’s most improved players this season on both ends of the floor and recorded his first career triple-double last week vs Detroit. Whether it is scoring, rebounding, or playmaking, Johnson has been able to do it all for the Hawks this season.
Clint Capela is one of the defensive anchors for the Hawks and their best rebounder. While he can miss some easy baskets, Capela is one of the Hawks most important players due to his strengths and he will be tasked with guarding Bam Adebayo tonight.
The Hawks rotation will likely consist of Kobe Bufkin, Garrison Matthews, Vit Krejci, and Bruno Fernando. Bufkin has shown the ability to be an impactful two-way player as a rookie, while Matthews and Krejci are two of Atlanta’s better shooters. Fernando can be inconsistent as the backup center but can bring energy and toughness on most nights.
Coming into this game, Atlanta ranks 5th in PPG, 20th in field goal percentage, 7th in three-point attempts, 15th in three-point percentage, 7th in free throw attempts, 2nd in offensive rebounding, and 16th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks are 10th in points per 100 possessions, 16th in effective field goal percentage, 11th in turnover percentage, 5th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 12th in free throw rate.
The Hawks have had a problem with the Heat for the past few years and a lot of it has to do with the Heat’s defense and physicality. Not much has changed for Miami this year, as they rank 4th in PPG allowed, 10th in field goal percentage allowed, and 8th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Miami is 7th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 16th in effective field goal percentage allowed.
Miami has had a hard time staying healthy this season, but they are relatively healthy coming into tonight’s game. The report to watch is if Terry Rozier will play tonight, as he is questionable.
The problems for Miami are usually on offense and that is again the case this year. The Heat are 27th in PPG, 23rd in field goal percentage, 18th in three-point attempts, 13th in three-point percentage, 13th in free throw attempts, 27th in offensive rebounding, and 3rd in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, Miami is 21st in points per 100 possessions, 21st in effective field goal percentage, 9th in turnover percentage, 24th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 7th in free throw rate.
The Heat still have plenty of talent though. Jimmy Butler is one of the most feared players this time of year and guys like Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro can make big differences, especially against this Hawks defense which ranks 28th in PPG allowed, 26th in field goal percentage allowed, and 28th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 26th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 28th in effective field goal percentage.
Viewing and Betting Information
Tip-off time: 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA
Where to Watch: NBA League Pass, Bally Sports Southeast,
Spread and Over/Under: The Hawks will be underdogs at home tonight, as they are currently 3.5 point underdogs according to the latest odds from Caesars Sportsbook and the over/under is set at 220.5.
Predictions:
Miami is always a tough matchup for Atlanta, no matter where the game is played. Both teams need this game in hopes of improving their postseason outlook, but I think it is safe to say the Heat need it more. Miami wants to get out of the play-in tournament and avoid a potential first round matchup with the Celtics. This is a matchup where Atlanta could use Trae Young, but they won’t have him. I think it will be a close game, but Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are the top two players on the floor. Heat win a close one.
Final Score: Miami 112, Atlanta 107 (Miami -3.5, Under)
As Atlanta gets set to host the World Cup, commuters should rest easy, as the city has handled this kind of pressure before.
A MARTA billboard about World Cup traffic stands outside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Ben Hendren for the AJC)
Atlanta hosts its first of eight FIFA World Cup games June 15 and is among 16 North American cities with this honor.
An event of this magnitude requires significant planning, personnel, equipment and cooperation to go smoothly. And while Atlanta is notorious for slow traffic, the city says it is ready to host the world and has the receipts to prove it.
I sat down with Georgia Tech professor of environmental and civil engineering, Michael Hunter, to get a read on how well Atlanta should be able to move people.
“Georgia had a lot of foresight and it is paying dividends now, because they can hold an event like the World Cup, which is going to involve state coordination, city coordination, local county coordination, and they can do that,” he said.
One wise strategy was implemented at the state level in the last 10-15 years, Hunter said, as the Georgia Department of Transportation incentivized local governments to buy the same traffic signal equipment. That allows traffic lights to “talk” to each other and adjust priorities for vehicles, transit or pedestrians, based on traffic flow. Flanked by a bank of his own traffic signal boxes and test modeling computers in his lab, Hunter explained the Summer Olympics were a turning point for Atlanta. While the 1996 Games were far from perfect, the city proved it could host the world.
The 2019 Super Bowl proved to be another revelation in A-Town.
“They learned at the Super Bowl how to get everybody to talk,” Hunter explained. “It is about the coordination.”
And, he noted, reflecting on his nearly 30 years in the field, Georgia does this better than other places he has studied.
The Atlanta Police Department recently met with reporters to detail its World Cup efforts. Officers will not be allowed to take vacation during the weeks of World Cup activities. Millions of dollars are approved for overtime. And Atlanta has a flexible and coordinated transportation plan, officials said. Police will be at GDOT’s Traffic Management Center and at the Georgia World Congress Center ops center.
“We will also rely on Atlanta DOT, their new integrated command center, to also give us real-time information visually from the cameras around to make sure that we can make real-time decisions in a timely manner to best move traffic,” Charles Hampton Jr., deputy chief of the Atlanta police special events division, said at the Tuesday presentation.
Hampton noted that while there are no scheduled road closures for the World Cup around Mercedes-Benz Stadium, they could block streets if large crowds spill over.
Hampton said the city conducted a training exercise among multiple departments in late March and gleaned good feedback. And he said any plans have to be flexible as circumstances change.
Hunter explained the biggest World Cup traffic challenge could be the arrivals of VIPs. “You’re going to have presidents, prime ministers, royalty — all these people coming in who don’t usually come to all these events. And they all are going to have special needs,” he said.
This could require unplanned road closures or even the removal of pedestrians from certain areas at peak times.
Navigating the events or the city itself during this unique period requires patience from all, Hunter said.
The city performed well for the 2019 Super Bowl (it is set to host it again in 2028), the 2025 MLB All-Star Game, the College Football Playoff National Championship game (2018, 2025), multiple NCAA Final Four events and multiple megabanger concerts at the Benz.
Atlanta basically has eight of these events this summer, but the city did not implode under the former examples. If drivers who do not need to be near the stadium and Centennial Olympic Park stay away, things will move even better. Doug Turnbull covers the traffic/transportation beat for WXIA-TV (11Alive). His reports appear on the 11Alive Morning News from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and on 11Alive.com. Email Doug at dturnbull@11alive.com. Subscribe to the weekly “Gridlock Guy” newsletter for the column here.
Doug Turnbull has covered Atlanta traffic for over 20 years.
In court filing, Trump administration says judge overseeing state elections case is biased.
The Department of Justice is asking U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross to recuse herself in a Georgia election records case. (Handout)
The United States is asking a federal judge in Atlanta to recuse herself from an election-related lawsuit, saying her reported appearance at an election event for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis creates “the appearance of bias.”
In a court filing Friday, the federal government sought the recusal of U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross from its lawsuit attempting to get Georgia’s voter registration data from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
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Journalist Rosie Manins is a senior courts and legal affairs reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
There haven’t been many quarterbacks who have been drafted into a weirder situation than Michael Penix Jr.
The former Washington Husky was selected by an Atlanta Falcons team who had just committed $180 million to veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins. He had no clear road to becoming the player he was selected to be. Nevertheless, he still found himself starting as a rookie.
Ever since then, it has been an up-and-down ride. There have been moments of brilliance, struggle, and injury, and now he is at a fork in the road with his professional career. NFL.com writer Nick Shook confirmed this by including him in his list of 11 ‘make-or-break players’ for the 2026 NFL season.
With Penix still working his way back from a season-ending knee injury — a process that seems to be on track, if not ahead of schedule, judging by Penix’s limited participation in OTAs this week — there’s a legitimate chance Tagovailoa begins the season as Atlanta’s starter,” Shook wrote. “If it’s a temporary measure, that’s fine, but Penix also wouldn’t be the first QB to get Wally Pipped in the NFL. It’s a plausible outcome in today’s minimally patient league, especially with a new regime now in charge.”
Michael Penix Jr. put his NFL future on the line with the Falcons in 2026
Penix Jr. is competing for the starting gig in Atlanta with Tua Tagovailoa. Unfortunately for him, Tua has a head start because he’s the healthy one.
This is a season that will define Penix Jr.’s career. If he performs, he cements himself as a franchise passer worthy of an extension. If he doesn’t, he either finds himself on the bench to start the season or gets benched, and the Falcons never look back — something Shook pointed out in his article.
‘Wally Pipped’ is the perfect analogy for his situation. As he goes on to explain, it may not matter how hard he works — his health could ruin everything. Hopefully, that isn’t the case because the two lefties deserve an equal shot at being a starter.
If anything, Penix Jr.’s controllable contract beyond this year should give him an advantage. But Shook does think believe he will end up starting at some point, with significant pressure on his shoulders.
“This situation is difficult because, no matter how hard he works, Penix might not have the full freedom to begin 2026 at full speed. When he does take the field, though, the pressure will be on. As a former top-10 pick whose brief success as a rookie largely pushed Kirk Cousins out of Atlanta, Penix will be expected to prove he’s continuing to develop, something he struggled to demonstrate in his second season before it ended abruptly with his third ACL tear. Hopefully, he’ll have most of the season to try to make it happen. Otherwise, questions regarding his future will only grow.”
The only thing we know for certain about the Falcons’ quarterbacks is that there is significant pressure on both potential starters. We will find out who is made for the moment as the summer progresses.
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